Everything aches. After one month of bending over, pulling crop fabric, planting, weeding and everything else that farming is, my body is tired. It’s good kind of tired though. And to be honest, wrestling my farm manager may have been what pushed me over the edge. All I can say is that, everything hurts.

This is an interesting topic to embark on. Those who are ‘happy’ are often lumped into, ‘They’re fine.’ or ‘They don’t need help.’ For the most part, this is true. We have built in coping mechanisms that push us to pursue happiness. Most of us developed these in childhood, sometimes from traumatic experiences, and they are how we are able to move through and function in the world.

I sat down with my boss at the beginning of the quarantine. Working in hospitality, I anticipated our inevitable demise during this pandemic. He gently assured me, ‘I can only keep your benefits while you are employed, so we will try our best to keep you employed.’ The next day, all of my friends in the hospitality industry were let go on furlough. I remained employed.